Stock Analyst Note
Union Pacific Earnings: Margin Improvement Accelerates Despite Sluggish Volume Trends
Wide moat Class-I railroad Union Pacific's first-quarter freight revenue was roughly flat year over year as positive core-pricing and favorable mix offset lower fuel surcharges and a slight decline in consolidated volumes. Revenue came in modestly below our expected run rate on coal volume weakness and domestic intermodal pricing pressure, but UP's margin performance came in ahead on impressive productivity gains.